HOUSTON, May 1, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Pioneer Companies, Inc. (Nasdaq:PONR) today announced that it has entered into a contract with Chlorine Engineers Corp., Ltd. (CEC) to purchase the membrane cells for the previously announced expansion and conversion of its chlor-alkali facility in St. Gabriel, Louisiana. Under the Sales Agreement, CEC will supply its Bipolar Electrolyzer membrane cell units for the project. CEC also will provide engineering services, design specifications and a license to the technology used in the units. As previously announced, Pioneer will be expanding the capacity of its St. Gabriel plant by approximately 25% and converting to membrane cell technology from the existing mercury cell technology. The project is scheduled to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2008.
Gary L. Sulik, Pioneer's Vice President, Manufacturing, commented: "We are very excited to be utilizing CEC's newest energy-saving electrolyzer technology for our St. Gabriel project. We went through a rigorous selection process to select the membrane cell technology, and felt that CEC's technology, with its low power consumption, would be the best for this project. CEC also is well known for its engineering skills, technical support and commitment to serving the customer. We feel very comfortable that CEC will be an excellent partner to help us achieve our goal of completing this critical project for Pioneer on time and within budget."
Pioneer, based in Houston, manufactures chlorine, caustic soda, bleach, hydrochloric acid and related products used in a variety of applications, including water treatment, plastics, pulp and paper, detergents, agricultural chemicals, pharmaceuticals and medical disinfectants. Pioneer owns and operates four chlor-alkali plants and several downstream manufacturing facilities in North America.
Chlorine Engineers Corp., Ltd., founded in 1973 and headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leading worldwide supplier of electrolyzer units for the chlor-alkali industry and other industries which utilize ion-exchange membrane electrolyzer units.
Certain statements in this news release are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. Forward-looking statements relate to matters that are not historical facts and include, but are not limited to, statements relating to the expected additional production capacity of the St. Gabriel plant, completion dates of the project, and anticipated benefits of the project. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, increases in costs and delays in the completion of the St. Gabriel project, risks relating to the additional debt financing that the Company has incurred to pay for the project, the cyclical nature of the demand and prices for the Company's products, the availability and costs of the raw materials used to make the company's alkali products, the company's access to and the cost of rail transportation, environmental risks, governmental regulation, and the ability of the company to meet its business and financial goals and the risks and uncertainties described in Pioneer's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Actual outcomes may vary materially from those indicated by the forward-looking statements.